Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.
Unless you have been living under a groyne, the row between Blackpool Council and long-serving business Quilligans will not have escaped your attention.
The two parties have been involved in a back-and-forth dispute over rent that came to a sudden head on Monday - when the locks of the business were changed without warning.
We have spoken with them both. Our story includes their official statements but lots of information besides that. It is, undoubtedly, one we will be reporting on again.
You have my apologies for the extended introduction to today’s newsletter but there is more to tell you about before we get stuck in.
The Lead, which of course includes The Blackpool Lead, has been confirmed as a recipient of the government’s Local News Fund. This money is exclusively designed to help with the long-term sustainability local news.
We have been reporting in Blackpool since the very start of 2024 - although some of our reporters have been doing it for decades - and we’ll have more about how we plan to invest that money in the near future.
We have had positives messages from both sides of Blackpool’s political divide in response to our news, they are included below. All of the news then follows!
“Local journalism is vital. Not only does it hold people and organisation to account, but its ever present scrutiny ensures that all the decisions which directly affect local people are properly analysed.
The media landscape is harder than ever before for local people to navigate, having to work out whether what they see on social media is true, or navigating headlines that don’t tell the full story.
The Blackpool Lead has been a welcome addition to the local journalism scene. Its detailed and thorough analysis of policy and decisions helps local residents to have all the information they need to decide whether organisations are doing work in the town’s best interest. I’m pleased that this government funding will also them to extend their reach, ensuring local people are fully informed about the decisions that directly affect them.”
Cllr Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council
“I have always approached the media with a healthy degree of scepticism, particularly when it comes to political reporting. However, The Blackpool Lead has been something of a breath of fresh air. In my experience, they approach their work with journalistic integrity, without fear or favour, and are not afraid to hold anyone to account, regardless of their political affiliations. Frankly, that is what journalism used to be about.
That does not mean I always agree with what they write, nor would I expect favourable coverage simply because I engage with them. What I do appreciate is the time, effort and research that clearly goes into their reporting. They are also remarkably receptive to feedback and willing to listen to different points of view. That is something I respect, and something I believe is increasingly missing from journalism today.
I am delighted that The Blackpool Lead has been successful in securing funding through the Local News Fund. Properly researched, independent local journalism matters, particularly in a town like Blackpool. I congratulate Luke and his team on their achievement and genuinely look forward to seeing them grow and build on what they have already established.”
Cllr Jim O’Neill, Reform UK leader at Blackpool Council
With Black Friday on the horizon, you can get a whopping 50% off an annual subscription to The Blackpool Lead. But you need to be quick - this is our biggest ever deal and it ends at the end of November.
Blackpool briefing
🪨 A leading member of Blackpool RNLI says a rescue mission off the coast earlier this year would not have succeeded if controversial rock groynes were in place – and lives would have been lost.
Steven Fitzgerald, chair of the Blackpool RNLI, has strongly reiterated his objections to proposals to install rigid rocks groynes across Blackpool’s beaches.
Blackpool Council is planning to put 33 of the structures in place as part of environmental efforts to save Blackpool’s famous golden sands with two schemes – at Bispham and Central Beach - after it was discovered that levels were receding at an alarming rate, revealing layers of clay beneath.
Planners face a difficult decision in the coming weeks as key environmental issues are pitted against serious safety concerns raised by the RNLI and other objectors.
A similar scheme in Anchorsholme has already been given planning approval, while a decision on Blackpool Central was deferred in September but will have to be looked at again.
Mr Fitzgerald put his concerns into stark context when he said that a rescue mission which saw two young cousins dramatically rescued off Blackpool this year could not have been saved had the groynes already been in place.
🥋 A project to set up a new martial arts training and community facility in the Blackpool area is back on the agenda after a planning setback earlier this year.
And the proposals by Hazel Winter, known in local martial arts circles as a black belt in the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), have been hailed as having multiple benefits for the local community.
A new planning application has been submitted to Blackpool Council for a change of use of a building at 151A Mowbray Drive to a martial arts training, fitness and community facility.
The new proposals differ from the application earlier this year, as those proposals sought permission for a Certificate Lawfulness which would have meant the scheme would not require planning permission.
This time, the application seeks outright planning permission.
🏠 Residents living directly opposite a works compound which serves the ongoing £31 million Anchorsholme Coastal Protection Scheme have issued a formal complaint about the effects of the activities there.
Some of the apartment dwellers in Wilvere Court and Shore Point, on Queens Promenade, say that among the issues they are experiencing are cracks in the walls of their homes, which they say have appeared since the works began.
They believe this to be a consequence of huge boulders being dropped into unclad dumper trucks in the nearby compound, located across the road, close to the Little Bispham tram stop, after work got under way in May this year.
A letter of complaint has been sent to Blackpool Council citing “severe noise disturbance and subsequent loss of residential amenity caused by ongoing engineering works” at the compound.
Blackpool Council has commissioned the various coastal protection schemes, stretching from Squires Gate in the south to Anchorsholme in the north, as it has a statutory duty to protect thousands of properties, businesses, and critical infrastructure from erosion and flooding. It has contracted Balfour Beatty to carry out the work, which is fully-funded by the Environment Agency.
Café of twenty years closed after long-running dispute with Blackpool Council over rent
By Luke Beardsworth
A prominent and longstanding café has closed after owners arrived on Monday (9 November) to see the locks had changed.
Quilligan’s, which styles itself as a café bar and family restaurant and is part of the Winter Gardens, is operated by Lisa and Shaun Quilligan and has been open for more than 20 years - nine of which have been in the current location on Church Street.
But Blackpool Council, the landlord in this instance, took action this week to secure the premises of the building - changing the locks and ensuring the owners could not gain access.
A Facebook post from Quilligan’s described the action as ‘devastating’ and said the response by Blackpool Council is ‘verifiably false’.
That response by Blackpool Council spoke of significant rent arrears and a failure to engage with the authority over those arrears.
Quilligan’s said that this is ‘outright fabrication’ and that they have physical evidence of their efforts to engage with the council regarding their rent and the dispute they are involved in. That dispute, according to the business, stems from the ‘forced downsizing’ of the premises nine years ago.
They did, however, decline to provide that evidence when approached by The Blackpool Lead citing their ongoing legal battle.
Blackpool Council sources, meanwhile, said that the arrears were north of £100,000, that they knew the decision would be unpopular but they believe they were left with little choice because the debt stems over several years and that they are confident on the legal position of the action they have taken.
Quilligan’s described the lockout as a ‘surprise’ and ‘devastating’ and that it came after a period of little communication between the business and Blackpool Council.
The Blackpool Lead understands that the period of little communication before the locks were changed was a deliberate act to ensure that Blackpool Council was complying with the law.
Quilligan’s says that it has engaged ‘specialist commercial property litigators’ to remedy the situation where they have been locked out of the business and that they are seeking damages for the ‘defamatory public statements’ made by the council.
Cllr Mark Smith, Blackpool Council’s Cabinet Member for Economy and Built Environment, said: “Nobody wants to see businesses close. However, Quilligan’s is in significant rent arrears.
“Managing down the debt might have been possible, however the owners haven’t engaged with us about their issues. If they had, we would have listened and tried to find a solution for them to pay it back.
“Not paying rent isn’t fair on the other businesses that do, so we were left with no option but to terminate the lease and gain entry. It is a real shame to see a long-standing business like Quilligan’s close, more than anything for the staff who work there.”
The statement from Quilligan’s reads: “We are heartbroken, truly heartbroken, deeply shocked and devastated by the unannounced, aggressive action taken by Blackpool Council to execute a surprise lockout and change the locks on our family-run café on Monday morning.